This is getting even worse than I had imagined it would:
In one e-mail exchange, University of Illinois Chancellor Richard Herman forced the law school to admit an unqualified applicant backed by then- Gov. Rod Blagojevich while seeking a promise from the governor's go-between that five law school graduates would get jobs. The applicant, a relative of deep-pocketed Blagojevich campaign donor Kerry Peck, appears to have been pushed by Trustee Lawrence Eppley, who often carried the governor's admissions requests.
When Law School Dean Heidi Hurd balked on accepting the applicant in April 2006, Herman replied that the request came "Straight from the G. My apologies. Larry has promised to work on jobs (5). What counts?"
Hurd replied: "Only very high-paying jobs in law firms that are absolutely indifferent to whether the five have passed their law school classes or the Bar."
I don't see how Herman can keep his job.
It is time for these corrupt scumbag admins and trustees to be kicked to the curb and prosecuted. They are destroying the reputation of the UI.
It appears to me there are three people who should be held accountable, Blagojevich for making the request, Eppley for brokering Blagojevich's request and Herman for acting on the request. Since this is just typical Illinois political influence power play, there were probably no laws broken. All three individuals should have some type of sanctions against them for this type of public trust violation. Loss of public employment, loss of public pension or ban from future public employment in the State of Illinois come to mind as fitting punishments. However, this is Illinois, "petri dish" of political corruption, so other than a little revelation, this will all blow by with IL voters, who have grown to tolerate this type of activity by public servants.
White needs to go because of this scandal and the fact he's a Michigan man.
Herman needs to go because of this scandal and his support for Ron Guenther after Guenther called Warren Carter an "idiot" during that basketball game.
The Trustees need to go because of this scandal, and the General Assembly should pass legislation whereby the voters elect the Board of Trustees.
Ron Guenther needs to go because he is a terrible athletic director, and the football team's record is 78-117-2 under his "leadership."
From the NG story:
Oil Man, if you think no laws were broken, and you are probably right, under what authority, under what LAW, do you ban someone from future public employment and/or strip them of their pension? Aren't you just jumping on some mob mentality bandwagon? Have you got your rope ready yet?
I've wondered if this had anything to do with Dean Hurd's sudden resignation as dean. She clearly pushed back as much as she could under the circumstances.
(The) university's board chairman, Niranjan Shah, ... (said) ...
As Herman and Hurd exchanged e-mails about the relative's acceptance, Hurd wrote: "Any more phone calls to make to influential people just to make sure they feel the love?" Shah told the Tribune.
Shah told the Tribune. Not the NG, the Tribune. Read the NG story. Not one single comment TO the NG. Good job, NG!
White and the trustees should already have been removed on the simple basis that they have presided over the loss of nearly a half a billion dollars from the university endowment in the economic decline. This corruption case just seals the deal.
I have heard rumors the News-Gazette is struggling quite a bit financially. This is probably another nail in their coffin on a story that should have been uncovered a long time ago. If the Trib breaks the news on the top local stories where do you think the advertisers are going to go.
I hate to admit that my voyeuristic tendencies caused me to scan the 125 pages.
My favorite contact was Governer Yang of China trying to get his (redacted) into school here. I bet that made Richard and Joe's heads swell up. A Chinese governer needing their help.
How about reading the pride that Press, Hurd, and Herman had in their admitted class statistics despite the clout admissions. Good to know that when they have a few spots to fill, they will pick the "top two females" to enhance their number. Met or exceeded our african american or latino enrollment.... So much for taking the candidates with the highest scores and rankings.
Anonymous at 10:22, you misread the story. Shah did not tell the Tribune that Hurd wrote, "Any more phone calls to spread the love?" That was in the email. Shad did tell the Tribune that he didn't try to exert influence, which is another bold-faced lie.
But your point about the N-G being behind on the story is well taken. The most explosive part of today's story is the swapping of five jobs for the admissions. The Tribune has that near the beginning of its story. The N-G has it at the bottom of its story. Who were the five? What jobs did they get? Since the special admits were near the bottom of the class, were they also the ones who got the jobs?
While I dislike responding to anonymous poster, who may be on the public dole as well as political power monger 'on the take'; if so rest assured there is a very old IL law which bans the use of rope against public office holders. I doubt there has ever been a mob in this state formed against political corruption. My comments come from the fact convicted felons are banned from voting so would appear banning corrupt public servents from future service could be possible.
Personally I think the UI administrators were put in a very bad position by the BoT and the Governor. If they didn't allow these ridiculous admissions, what would have been the repercussions to the University? We all know the Governor was certainly not above punishing those who didn't play the game his way.
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A Peek into the Campaign
Convicted felons can vote in Illinois so long as they are not in jail. Stop spreading this lie.
Go Whitesox!!!
It sounds to me as if it wasn't only Blagojevich asking for this type of favor, though. Things go deeper than that.
What I want to know is where the pushback should have happened, then? If the poor UI administrators are under such terrible pressure from the governor (or perhaps other highly placed politicians) that he gets exempted from the requirement to blow the whistle, and the law school dean is under such terrible pressure from the UI administrators that she gets exempted from the requirement to blow the whistle, where exactly is the buck supposed to stop? "I was just following orders" doesn't always get you out of trouble.
Sure, the governor shouldn't make these requests to start with, but he did, and SOMEONE needs to have stood up and said NO.
Ezra asks: "Since the special admits were near the bottom of the class, were they also the ones who got the jobs?"
I doubt it, at least not those particular special admits. It reads to me as if the jobs are provided this year in exchange for allowing special admits this year, which would mean the "bottom of the class" people were graduating as the special admits were coming in. (They might have been special admits from three years ago, of course.)
All employees of the U of I are required to take the ethics test. This behavior clearly violates it. Punishment should be meted out, including to the suits at the top. Undignified for them? So what.
"What I want to know is where the pushback should have happened, then?"
It should have been stopped by the Trustees. Then by White. Then by Herman. Then by the respective Deans.
This is yet another unintended consequence of a reform gone badly. Trustees used to be elected, and then were made gubernatorial appointments during the Edgar administration, largely due to efforts by Republicans to insulate the UI from politics. Instead, it has done exactly the opposite.
IP - I agree with your 11:42 post. But I might change the order of who should have stopped it to: Trustees, Herman, White. And I think you were right in the first post - Herman should go. Yes, it should have been stopped by the Trustees - but they weren't about to as they were ones making the admissions requests. Some of this pre-dates White, and Herman is all over it, sometimes proudly. ("This comes from the 'G'"? What is that? Herman's such good buddies with the G - now the OG - that he can refer to him as an initial? Hilarious! ) It sure would have been nice if White stopped it when he came in, though.
Please include 'while still in prison' after the word 'voting' in my previous comment as I would not want to spread any falsehoods about voting in Illinois.
The admins make a ton of money to be in a position of trust, responsiblity, and leadership. If they cannot blow the whistle when it needs to be blown, then they should be toast. Period.
Interestingly, according to the Tribune, with one exception, this did not go on at the Medical College. Same governor, same trustees, but when they pushed, the dean pushed back. Sure it puts the administrators in an uncomfortable position with the governor and the legislature controlling their state funds. But it's no different than anyone else asked to pay bribes or extortion money. Once you start paying, they have you by the balls and it doesn't get easier to turn them down, it gets harder. If the president and chancellor had simply said, "We'd love to help out, but we have a committee responsible for admissions and it taints the process if we get involved, so as a matter of policy we just don't interfere with admissions decisions," then that would have been the end of it. We've got a president who is getting paid over $400,000 a year and gets another $200,000 from outside work as a director of a major corporation (again, according to the Chicago papers, nothing from our local one) and he didn't want to jeopardize his gravy train. We don't need weak people like that running our institutions.
I'm upset too. But at the same time Blago was notorious for being vindictive. Trading one law school admission to ensure a happy governor is understandable.
As Cal Hamilton stated when he was the Los Angeles director of planning, "if you do not have your bags packed and under the desk, you are not doing a good job." This applies up and down the decision makers' ladders connected with any and all parts of the University of Illinois system. Protecting one's job, whether elected or appointed, has become the highest priority, based on what we are learning from these investigative articles.
Pattsi Petrie
Trading one law school admission to ensure a happy governor is understandable.
Sure, in a corrupt Democrat patronage sort of way. I'll bet it's not too understandable to the young person who would would have been admitted to the university instead, based on MERIT.
If the admins had said no and blown the whistle we might have had a new governor sooner. Everybody who knew about this and did nothing to stop it needs to go.
Maybe the UI could hire Tony Fabri to audit this process and make recommendations.
If the admins had said no and blown the whistle we might have had a new governor sooner.
You're living in fantasy land if you believe that.
Hurd is no hero...
All this talk about how elected trustees will eliminate these problems makes me chuckle. I had the good (mis)fortune to interview some of our esteemed elected trustees back in the early 90s. A couple of them were perhaps the dumbest, most incompetent people I have ever met. Remember, we elected George Ryan and Blago. My point: there just ain't no magic solution here folks.
As far as the News Gazette goes, my understanding is that advertising revenues are down 30%, in addition to the $2 million contract they lost to print the Tribune. Of course that's not an excuse for them missing this story; the Tribune is itself in bankruptcy. Neither of these papers may survive.
The law school turns away many qualified applicants every year. It's not like they would have been able to admit all the "merit" candidates by rejecting all the "political" ones. In part because of this, I doubt there was much angst about admitting the patronage candidate(s). The email exchanges about class profiles are also pretty distressing - it looks the former dean measured the "merits" of an incoming class based on what impact they could have on the law school's annual ranking in U.S. News & World Reports as much as anything else.
I find it interesting in reading through the emails that Peter Fox sponsored a candidate for the law school that was given special consideration for admission. I wonder who this was? More payoff for the research park relationship?
it looks the former dean measured the "merits" of an incoming class based on what impact they could have on the law school's annual ranking in U.S. News & World Reports as much as anything else
Yeah, I could see why she wanted to build the school's reputation and avoid admitting students who wouldn't be able to pass the bar when they graduated, but she did seem a little preoccupied with numbers and ranking.
Personally I think the UI administrators were put in a very bad position by the BoT and the Governor. If they didn't allow these ridiculous admissions, what would have been the repercussions to the University? We all know the Governor was certainly not above punishing those who didn't play the game his way.
I'd agree. On one hand, they could have said no, and many would argue that they should have. On the other, there could be consequences for other people at the university if they bucked a legislator or trustee - what if some funding got withheld somewhere and other UI employees ended up losing their jobs because of it? It may not have just been about the administrators and their careers.
Let's not forget Tony Fabri was one of these law school students who couldn't pass the bar exam, that is why he ended up being Champaign County Auditor. I can understand the Dean's concerns with students who can't measure up.
Interesting comment by Pete Fox..."...there's no cause for alarm when I call and ask the status of a potential candidate." That's an issue here....if Quinn or Fox calls about a potential candidate, then the influence is generated just by the secretary relaying to HERMAN the indentity of the caller. I can't imagine a clerk at Dollar General would even get a call taken by Herman.
Interesting comment by Pete Fox..."...there's no cause for alarm when I call and ask the status of a potential candidate." That's an issue here....if Quinn or Fox calls about a potential candidate, then the influence is generated just by the secretary relaying to HERMAN the indentity of the caller. I can't imagine a clerk at Dollar General would even get a call taken by Herman.
Another scandal! Herman listens to the Governor, not the dollar general store clerk. I suggest that all letters of recommendation be eliminated. Not just for school admissions, but for jobs, etc. This taking of advice from others is out of control.
This little dust-up with Herman is the tip of the iceberg. Those examining violations of the public trust at the University won't be able to see the bigger, much bigger, systemic problem. They wont be able to see the forest for the trees....
To Anonymous @ 2:42P @ 27 June--exactly to what are you referring when you state "the bigger, much bigger, systemic problem"?
Pattsi Petrie